the unlikely orange

i just finished reading "the fault in our stars" by internet superstar john green last evening, and i found it to be a difficult experience.  it was like listening to someone present an argument that you really disagree with, but being amazed at how well, or how beautifully, they stated their belief.  but in the end, i'm still sad that he believes what he believes, and that the universe for him, isn't this incredible broken gift that doesn't point towards futility and nothingness, but beauty and life, the same kind of beauty and life that he has so wonderfully written about.  (i just reread that last sentence and realized how convoluted it was.  what i mean is this: i am saddened by his despair, especially when he obviously has such an eye for beauty).  it is a story of teenagers and cancer, and if you want to find out more about that part of the book, just look it up, well anywhere.  it has become a huge issue online about whether this is a cance...

sometimes i write about really grand things; the deep brokenness of the human condition, the great depths of faith and the profound reasons for hope, to name a few of my loftier topics.  and then there is this.  i'm not even sure i have the words for this.  i mean, i'm all for equality whenever possible, and if i were a woman, i have a feeling i would LOVE this (i'm telling you i would).  but still, that we live in a world where someone makes this and sells it!  what the what? in case you haven't figured it out based on that, um, ergonomic design, the "shewee" is a small plastic device that allows women to urinate while standing up.  so, whether she's out on the golf course, on the side of the highway, or just doesn't want to sit down on that nasty gas station toilet, today's woman now has a handy option!  do you want to know more (i don't blame you), you can visit the shewee website .  and, for both men and women, they also ...

is this really how we want to honor those who gave their lives? happy memorial day!  it is a day to remember those who gave their lives in commitment and dedication to a set of ideals that included, at least, that people deserve to be free.  that sounds good on a bumper sticker with stars and stripes on it, but reality can be a bit more murky.  i mean, freedom is awesome, don't get me wrong.  but those who are most vociferously praising the sacrifices of soldiers whose lives have been so sadly stolen away too early are often the same ones who will be bemoaning what this nation has done with its freedom.  think about it, at least for today, of all days.  if you are proud of your freedom, and if you are thankful for those who have paid dearly for it, please consider how you are using it.  we don't honor the purchasers of our freedom with a yearly shopping spree and grillfest; that is merely making ourselves feel better, as if taking a day ...

i'm that guy.  i like to try and impress my family with my vocabulary.  really, even though i know you won't believe me, it's not that i want to try and impress them so much as sometimes i feel it is more dramatic to use a stronger, lesser known word when a more familiar word would almost certainly do.  its all part of the drama of me being  me.  which is the beginning of this story.  we were at the dinner table.  i was being dramatic about something (which is to say that everything was about as normal as it gets at our house).  i was trying to explain something about why my jaw made the noise of a large zambelli brothers firecracker, and i said, referring to a bit of food, that "i masticated it."  shannon misheard this, thinking that i had said i "maxlucado-ed it."  it instantly caught on.  but rather than being a synonym for chewing, we decided to assign a new, more appropriate meaning for maxlucado as a verb.  john...

going on a field trip today with this hipster.  headed to lake tobias with caedmon's kindergarten class!  should be fun!

i am convinced that the stories we tell - the ones we read on our kindle fires and the ones we pay a monthly fee to watch on all our devices - are rarely merely for our entertainment.  of course there is entertainment value in most stories, but that is neither their only purpose, nor their greatest.  there's something else that stories do, and that is that they offer us a glimpse of the world - and us - from a particular point of view.  good stories find a way to show you a kind of mirror of yourself, how you would be if you made certain decisions.  i have, at various times of my life, seen myself in huck finn, atticus finch, the cowardly lion, frodo baggins, edmund pevensie, and many more, including david, that would-be king of israel. yes, i believe the same is true of the bible.  when we read these stories, they are never first and foremost about being able to be translated into a two-paragraph, two-minute devotion.  they are, above all, stories, an...

i hate saying goodbye.  it's never something that seems to happen gracefully.  it always seems to be marked by awkward gestures and broken sentences that strive, but always fail, to encapsulate all that proceeded.   so we lower our expectations and try to convince ourselves that we are content with a hug/back pat combo, and some trite cliches.  i have a feeling that's what tonight will look like.  to be fair, we've been saying goodbye for a couple of years now, as things have obviously changed in our relationship.  but we've hung on, hoping that something might change, might click and make things different.  still, just because we've had a couple of years to prepare doesn't make this any easier.  if anything, the slow and inevitable glacier-crawl of this goodbye has made it more difficult.  regardless, however difficult it may be, tonight is time to say goodbye.  at 9:00 we will say goodbye to what was, for several years...

-hello spring.  feeling ornery, aren't we?  high today somewhere in the 50's (it's 32 as i write this), but a high of 79 two days from now?  really?    today is field day.  lots of layers for the school boys.  -i'm helping my sister and brother-in-;law move into their new home today...excited for them in this new chapter of their journey as a family, and glad to be able to help out.  -two words: vampire weekend.  i'll let you know. -caedmon finished his flag football season this week.  i'm pretty sure he now knows the difference between offense and defense.  it was a productive season. -this: -have a great tuesday!

well, the countdown is over and mothers day has arrived.  today i share with you the latest installment in our annual family mothers day video.  before you watch it, though, know this:  there are a host of factors that contribute to us having the family we have, but there is none more critical, graceful and steadfast as Shannon.  without her, i am a buoy on the sea, bobbing up and down with the circumstances of the moment, lifted up by the highs of cute comments and good spelling tests, then immediately brought down by the lows of bickering and a diaper filled with some sort of toxic waste.  but shannon is solid.  she is consistent and she holds us all together.  without her, we'd be a little crazy.  well, as you can see from the video, we're a little crazy with her and about her, but it's a good crazy.  this music video is simply meant to capture some of the energy and expression and joy that she inspires in us.  it is my hope that...

today, as we have reached the day before mother's day, i offer you the most recent installment of our mothers day series.  this one isn't my best work, as i was working with some faulty equipment and making do with it the best i could.  i had a great vision in my head of what i wanted, but the implementation wasn't stellar.  nonetheless, it still captures the boys being their goofy selves at a particular moment in our family journey, and as far as that goes, it is precious.  they had a great deal of fun with this one, and enjoyed going "on location" for some of the shooting.  enjoy!  tune back in tomorrow for a brand new episode!  same mom time, same mom channel!

well, here we are on day three of the countdown.  it brings us to 2011, our first mother's day back in pennsylvania.  once again i am trying to capture a moment in time on film, since, (in what is a very obvious reality) they will never be this age again.  in this video i was really hoping to capture the reality of our lives.  it is full of superman costumes and accessory-laden spontaneous dance parties, and falling into bed exhausted at the end of the day.  it is a blur of energy and emotion, which, in the middle of it sometimes feels mundane (doing homework again , doing the laundry again , packing lunch again, etc), but when you step back and look at it, feels like the most amazing adventure we've ever been on.  i am so blessed to be on that adventure with a woman who almost always makes it look so easy and graceful. 

continuing now our countdown to the newest installment of our mother's day video series, here is the 2010 edition, which was meant to have the look and feel of an old silent film.  unfortunately, some of the paper i used for the words was too dark, and you can't make out everything that the boys had wanted to say.  oh well, it's a fun view, anyway.  it's set to "st. louis blues" by loius armstrong. enjoy.

as those who have been reading my blog for some time will already know, it is my tradition each year to make a short video for mother's day.  each year it takes on a different flavor, and the boys and i have been hard at work at this year's edition.  it is cool that we have been doing it long enough to have a nice collection going, and so i thought i would build up to the "reveal" of this year's video, by featuring a previous edition each day  today we begin with the very first one we made, in 2009.  Jackson was 4, and Caedmon was 2.  we lived in annandale, nj.  this video features some of the boys' ideas about what Shannon does, and Cade trying to make an escape out the window.  enjoy!

-happy tuesday, everybody!  it's release day, which means new music is out today.  she and him's new album drops today, and if anyone feels like sending me a copy, i'd be happy to write a review.  just sayin. -i recently watched a documentary by werner herzog called " grizzly man."   it was made in 2005 and tells the story of timothy treadwell, who dedicated his life to "protecting" grizzly bears in alaska.  i don't totally recommend this movie.  it depends on who you are, and what your reasons are for watching.  it is certainly a particular window into mental illness and its dramatic power and effect on human behavior.  treadwell seems to use his alaska getaways as a very real escape from the troubles of the rest of his life, and he begins to create his own fantasy world there, a world in which he becomes one of the bears, and they accept him as a part of their landscape.  he is able to maintain this fantasy for 13 summers, until it...

hello friends! i am continuing my liquidation sale, hoping to give a good home to the collages that have been accumalating in my art space for the last 14 years!  i am trying to let go of them - give them wings, so to speak, to free up some physical and creative space for me to do some new things!  if you see something you like, i would be honored!   prices are negotiable (i always find it difficult to attach a price to these things!).  but i will add a shipping charge on to each purchase (this charge will only be the cost of shipping it through the u.s. postal service, no more).  please note that collages are sold as original, unframed pieces.  if you have any questions, please be in contact with me via email gregory milinovich at yahoo, or facebook me or leave a comment here.      "lent 2010: go tell peter" mixed media collage on hardcover bookboard (found papers, vintage papers, acrylic paint, printed images, glue) 12" ...

-did you know it is baseball season? i haven't written my annual love letter to baseball yet this year, but i am no less in love with the sport. i've been enjoying the yankees ability to patch together a bunch of wins using players who were on all star teams when kris-kross was topping the charts with "jump jump." and i've been impressed with the pirates early run. here's hoping they find a way to sustain it over the 162 game schedule this year. we'll see. in any case, annual loveletter forthcoming... -i do not recommend playing candy crush.  it will violently rob you of every other ounce of your life.  "don't go to your job," it whispers.  "don't pay any attention to your family.  just try and match some sweet treats in groups of three or more."  it sounds more convincing in my head.  -speaking of kris kross, one of those dudes died yesterday, sadly.  this caused me to reflect on my own life, since we we...